What if chapter 3
by Kabaneri
Summary: A very short story I came up with. What if Imhotep didn't start the ritual? The third of the "What if..." series.


What if... Imhotep was stopped?

This will be VERRY short story. Just something I think will be funny. I don't expect much of this story.

===Aprox. 2000 something years in the past===

Imhotep, the greatest pries of all Egypt was going to commit the greatest sin. He was going to ressurect his best friend, the prince. He had ONE chance to do so. If he missed it, he wouldn't be able to do anything anymore.

'I have to hurry! The time when the energies are the strongest will come soon!'

Imhotep was heading towards the temple in a brisk pace. He was going to perform the ritual that same night. It was already dark and there was no one in the streets. He decided to take a shortcut but that was a mistake. Usually no one would dare to attack the greatest priest, so he was calm, but who knew this calmness would fail him.

Two days ago a person snuck in the city. It was a young orphaned girl. She and her family were traiders and traveled all across the Arabian countries and south Europe. This time, however they ventured to a new place, Africa- Egypt. Her father heard from a friend that in Egypt they buy purple silk like 'hot bread' and for ridiculous prices. Her father had bought a bulk recently, so he decided to go and try his luck. His wife and three children came with him. One night, however, theis kervan was attacked by bandits. All people fled in different directions to escape the armed bandits. Their family managed to escape but in the last moment they hit a rock and she fell out of the wagon. Before being captured she saw her two brothers and mother looking at her. Her mother made a few hand signals which meant 'We'll be waiting in the capital.'

She was captured and driven off with a bunch of other people to be sold as slaves. Oh no, she wasn't going to go down! She faked being bitten by a scorpion, thankfully one scuttled by and the bandits didn't get suspicious, she even cried in pain and vomited once. They didn't want to waste their antivenom for a 'brat' when they had many beauties and strong men to sell for a much higher price than what a small kid would fetch them. It simply wasn't worth the effort, so they threw her away in the desert to 'die from the poison' and left. She was waiting just for that. She pretended and moaned in 'pain' untill they were far enough not to see her. She knew which way her parents took to the capital.

'It would take them 10 days, at least to arrive. That's the closest road suited for wagons as big as ours. On the other hand, if I go from here, judging by what I saw it the map, I would arrive in 2-4 days, a bit more maybe...but first I have to fins some shade for now.'

She hid behind a big boulder, it was noon and scorching hot, the shade might have not been of much help but was better than nothing. She waited untill the sun started to set and began to become a bit cooler. She took three sharp rocks she found with her and started to walk towards the capital. She would also pick up whatever stick and dead plant she found on her way. In the night, when it was near 0 degrees, she would light a small fire to warm hersefe up. She would drink cactus juice and eat anything, mostly bugs that came out at night. She was lucky to find a few lizards too! Like that in three days she reached the capital. She knew she looked like a beggar with all the dust, dirt, sweat and dried blood (from skinning the lizards) on her, so she was verry careful. She snuck around, keeping away from people, especially the guards. She washed herself a bit in a hidden part of the river that flowed near the city, she even washed her clothes a bit. The hardest part was sneaking inside the city, it was impossible to stay outside of the gates for a week ot more! There was water but no food! She found a place where the guards and people in generally almost never passed through. She looked around and climbed inside the city. She stayed there for a few days but got hungry and desparate. No one would take her to work or even giver her a glance. One hight she couldn't sleep because of her stomach's churring, so she saw someone walk into the alley she was hidden. It was a boy around her age, clearly egyptian and wore some expensive clothes and jewelry he also carried a big sack on his back.

 **Yes, that's Imhotep, if you haven't guessed. In the sack are materials and offerings for the ritual. Every ritual needs offerings of some sort.**

Thanks to every hungry person's super sence of smell, she smelled all the thing he carried.

'FOOOOOD!' - she shouted in her mind.

She needed to be careful, so she tied a cloth around her mouth and hid her hait in an old turban she found drifting down the water. She took the long, sturdy branch she broke in case someone tried to attack her or she needed it. She quetly waited in the shadows and when he passed hes she slipped out of the dark like a ghost dashed towards him and before he even registered her presence, she whacked him in the back of his head with all her might. From one of the books her father bought her, she remembered that a hit there would knock a person out instantly as long as it is with enough strenght at the right place and truly the rich egyptian boy fainted and fell face down in the dirt.

 **Yup, she doesn't know he's a priest and works in the palace. If she knew that a single world from him could make her a wanted criminal in all of Egypt, she wouldn't have dared to whack him.**

She acted quickly. She opened the sack and saw some plants, fruit and quite a few animal organs along with a few bottles full of fragrant and colorfull liquids, she only recognised one - a bottle full of wine. She took the plants, fruit and meat along with the wine and put them in a makeshift bag made from an old dress. She wasn't as stupid as some thiefs, she knew such an intricately designed sack from high-quality material would be easyly recognised, so she left it there. She didn't touch any of the jewels for obvious reasons. I mean really, where would a poor person just take out a necklace of pure gold? It's obviously stolen! She also searched his pockets and found a dew coins, she took them and quickly ran away from the place, not leaving a trace. She looked at the boy one last time before she headed for the city wall. She was going to cook the meat as soon as possible and it was better to do so outside of the city.

The next day, just as the sun started to rise, Imhotep woke up with a groan. He rubbed the back of his head and hissed in pain. It took him a few minutes to wake up fully. As he did so, he started to remember how he entered the alley, the pain in the back of his neck and then the blackness. It doesn't need to be said but he was SHOCKED! He, the greatest priest of Egypt was mugged, robbed, whacked on the head by someone! Never in his life had he experienced such a thing. He realized only his money and part of the offerings for the ritual were gone. He sighed in relief. If his sacred priest jewels were stolen, he would have had an headache by the time the other priests stopped nagging him about his carelessness.

'AH! The ritual! I missed the time!'

Imhotep bolted up! He realized he lost his only chance he had in ressurecting his best friend. He cried a bit but soon collected himself. He would not show any weakness anymore.

As more days passed after his attack he realized what he tried to do was stupid, the dream about his friend smiling at him, congratulating him and telling him : "I's OK. This was the right thing to have been done. I bet if you started the ritual, with your luck you would have blown the whole capital! Or maybe destroyed life as we know it by angering the gods! Wahahaha! You have to thank that person for knocking you out if you find him! Well...I have to go now!" the prince started to fade away "And no more brooding, ya hear me!" he shouted just before Imhotep woke up. People would say that ever since day the great priest Imhotep had gone a bit crazy, speaking nosense such as trying mugging himself, talking to himself or thin air, pretending to be a bandit and other such things. The thief was never found and Imhotep couldn't thank them, unfortunately.

AH! And the girl reunited with her parents a few days later and left for Europe after selling thier silk.


End file.
